18 People Who Looked Through Their Partner’s Phone and That Changed Everything

Sometimes, snooping through your partner’s phone can lead you to discover things you didn’t expect, but it’s not all dark secrets or drama. Some people have found messages, photos, or little details that simply melted their hearts. Gestures full of love, tenderness, or care that were not meant to be seen, but that say more than a thousand words, that make the relationship be seen with different eyes, and that make it stronger.

Some lucky people found in their partner’s phone much more than they imagined: they rediscovered the love and fortune they may no longer remember.

• A few years ago, I was adding some items to the Notes app grocery list on my wife’s phone. The app opened to the most recent list, which was a copy of her wedding vows with the promises she made to me (things like supporting my dreams, being my partner in crazy adventures). Beside each one was a list of ideas to match, including some things we had done recently. We were going through a rough patch at the time, and seeing that list doubled my resolve to work through it. © timothywilliams2017 / Reddit
• I went through my partner’s phone after he passed away from cancer last year. I had to find contact numbers for a few friends who were not on the funeral list we made. In his Notes app, I found phrases he used in his letters to me, as we often wrote to each other when he was in the hospital and visiting times were short.
  English was not his first language, and I hadn’t realized how hard he had practiced to say what he wanted. I sent myself a copy of those notes and look at them often. © charlie1701 / Reddit
• His messenger chats with my mom. He joked with my mom a lot and would always ask about me, what I was like as a kid, why I am so full of energy, and how to take care of me. My mom had cancer and passed away in 2023, but their last messages to each other were him assuring her he’d take care of me the way she wanted to. © Chispiken / Reddit

• He handed me his phone when he was driving so I could text his mom for him. When I unlocked his phone, it opened to a note that was just a list of everything I’ve ever mentioned that I liked, and it was titled “gift ideas”. Like one of the items in the list was something I had seen in the window of a shop and had mentioned that I thought it was cute, then we just kept walking.
  It made me feel so loved to know that he paid attention to every tiny thing. We’re married now. © eugeneugene / Reddit
• A folder with pictures of me, but not pictures of dates or anything, mostly pictures of me making silly faces or sleeping, or eating. It showed me that he values me being comfortable and just existing a lot more than being dolled up and perfect constantly. © ohmybubbles / Reddit
• I saw my wife keeps an app for reminders for everyone’s birthdays and significant dates of our relationship. She also has a bunch of photo montages she created of us together. I never question her love and devotion to me. © Phildagony / Reddit

• A year after my husband died, I was clearing his tablet of stuff, and saw he had a Twitter account. I was reading through his posts, and hit one that had me in tears for the rest of the day.
  He had responded to some thread about keeping women in their place, or some garbage like that. My husband had posted a long rant about how being married for 35 years to a woman who never tired of learning, who never let things stop her, who stayed interested in new things, was the best thing in his life, and that a smart, thinking woman kept his life interesting and exciting.
  I always knew he felt this way, but seeing him say this to a total internet stranger, in a forum he thought I would never see, was just kind of overwhelming for a few days. We were friends for 45 years, best friends for 43 years, and married for 37 years.
  He died three and a half years ago, and the hole in my life is just as big as the day he died. I miss him tremendously. © hooyah54 / Reddit
• There was a photo album of nothing but pictures of me and our son titled, “My Perfect Men”. There were pictures in there I didn’t even know about: him helping me wash my car, us lying on the couch, him teaching me Minecraft, me helping him ride a bike, etc. I was a mess for a while. Ugly crying. Happy tears, but ugly crying.
  I had no idea I was loved so deeply by her. My wife is quiet, introverted, and didn’t grow up in an environment that was outwardly loving. I wasn’t snooping at all, but asked her to share some recent pictures of our son after a sports day at his school. I saw her in a different light after that. Our already good marriage hit a level I didn’t even know was possible. © fameone098 / Reddit

• My husband changed his phone password to my name within three months of us dating. He didn’t tell me he had, I only realized one day when I needed to unlock his phone and asked. I had trust issues going into our relationship, so it was a shock that someone would use my name for anything. We’ve now been together for seven years, and I’m still his password.. © sunset_bean / Reddit
• She left her laptop open and I saw a folder called “secret stuff”. A momentary panic followed, and I couldn’t help myself. It was literally just thousands of pictures of our dogs. © Tech_Noir_1984 / Reddit
• My fiancé and I have a really chill relationship. We respect that phones are private, so we don’t snoop, but use each other’s phones all the time for stuff like a torch when we grab whatever’s nearest or to Google a number.
  I was asking about something, and he said to look it up and passed his phone. I went to Google, and it opened on his last tab... He was looking at engagement rings. I clicked on another tab and searched on that instead to try to hide that I’d seen it. I never confessed.
  I knew pretty early on I wanted to spend my life with him, and we’d had casual conversations, but I’m a natural skeptic. To see that just really solidified in my little worried brain that he wasn’t lying when he said he loved me. © Bubbly_North_2180 / Reddit

• I was using his phone when mine had died, and I have a habit of closing apps (he had a million open, and it was driving me nuts), and his Reddit was open. He doesn’t post much, just follows and likes a bunch of woodworking and crafting subreddits, but the few posts he commented on were about me. It made my heart feel so happy.
  My favorite comment was about someone planning Valentine’s Day for their partner, and he said something like, “One Valentine’s Day, my wife surprised me with a giant blanket fort. She had her parents watch our daughter, bought all my favorite snacks and sushi for dinner, had The Lord of the Rings ready to play and made a pillow nest on the floor inside the fort. Best. Wife. Ever.”
  He doesn’t have social media and isn’t one for writing letters or cards, doesn’t make a big show of his affections for me, so to see him gushing about me online was so moving. I love that goose. © Main-Ladder-5663 / Reddit
• The night my significant other proposed, we went to see The Hobbit in the theater. He asked me to look up the tickets in his email, and I saw an engagement ring email confirmation. Despite this, I was still very flustered when it happened. © altonssouschef / Reddit

• The Notes app has a list of stuff about me: favorite movies, flowers I’d like to get, shoe size, anything, and everything. There were subdivisions like potential gifts to buy, what to do if I’m angry at him, and stuff about my seasonal depression and what helps.
  It was almost three pages long and titled “My love”. I fell in love more. It showed he’s serious about me and willing to put in effort. © Desperate-Exi***2 / Reddit
• The notes app with a title “MUST READ”. It is a long list of things he should do when we have an argument as if talking to himself, and it’s always followed by a compliment about me.
  Like one is “Ask her for a couple of minutes to compose and calm down because you might say bad things you don’t mean out of frustration. She’s very sweet, understanding, caring. Your baby doesn’t deserve to cry.”
  It might be bare minimum to others, but he has always been mentally struggling with dealing with negative emotions. Although we’re adults, we’re each other’s firsts. So it’s a constant learning, and he’s improving a lot, but sometimes he beats himself up for it. Writing this just makes me cry, but I’m so proud of him for going beyond his limits and comfort zone. © fanxyh*gh / Reddit

• I really try hard to respect my girlfriend’s privacy, but I have super vision and read whole paragraphs in, like, one glance. One time, I glanced over and happened to see her telling one of her best friends how much she loved being with me and how safe and happy she felt. A decade of horrible relationships still gives me the scares sometimes, but I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. © skel*tons_a***ole / Reddit
• Seeing her defend me in her family group, threatening to break contact with her entire family if they keep bad-mouthing me all the time. Telling them how happy she is with me and how much I helped her gain self-confidence, which they always try to destroy. And funnily enough, what a great cook I am.
  After that, she lashed out at them, calling out her family’s bad marriages and lying relationships. Love that woman, never gonna let her go. Cried a bit when I accidentally read all of it. © NewMEmeNew / Reddit
• Way back into the seventies, I found a letter she had written about me to her older sister. It was so flattering: tall, handsome, smart, funny, and a good kisser. It made me feel really good when she gave her approval, and her little sister and I became an item. Still knocking boots 50 years later. © 2O2Ohindsight / Reddit

Sometimes a simple glance is enough to remind you how much love there is in the smallest details. Have you also found something unexpectedly beautiful on the phone of someone you love?